If you want to attract visitors to your website you must have a sitemap page as well as being registered with Google and Yahoo. Of the two Google is much more important but, before discussing how to create a sitemap, lets look at why one is so vital to your websites success.

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is basically a page on your website which serves as a directory for your visitors by listing all the links to all the documents and files found on the site. It is not merely a random listing of links, but organized in such a way that it gives the web user an idea of how all the information that can be found in the site fits into an outline or framework. Essentially it should be like viewing the table of contents of a book.

What purpose does a sitemap serve?

Although very useful for visitors to help find their way around your website a sitemap primarily targets search engine spiders so that they are properly directed to your site and to the links where keywords entered in the search dialogue appear.

Because of this it is actually a very useful tool in search engine optimization. A well organized site map will guide the spider to find the information it needs when an Internet user enters keywords into a search engine.

What are the benefits of having a sitemap for my website?

1. Easy navigation for search engine robots A comprehensive sitemap means it is faster and easier for search engine spiders to crawl your site and track all the links within the site.

2. Easier navigation for site visitors Once a web user has accessed your sitemap, they need not go back to the search engine page to look for what they need. If the information they are search for is on your site, then they will have an easier and faster way of locating it.

3. Encourages greater traffic to your site The consequence of a sitemap making your website more attractive to search engines is that traffic will increase as your pages will be ranked higher in the search engine listings.

How are sitemaps formatted?

There are at least three major types of sitemaps: indexed, full categorical, and restricted categorical. An indexed site map appears as an alphabetical listing or directory. A full categorical map displays all links classified into categories; while a restricted categorical sitemap displays all links listed in a chosen category at a time.

The most widely used format is the full categorical sitemap and is the most preferred by users since it is easier to search for topics within the site and it allows easier comparison between and among categories.

Goggle sitemaps

It is important to establish the difference between the sitemap page on your website and the one which you need to submit to the search engines.

Unlike the page on your website which is basically a list of links the sitemap which you need to submit to Google needs to be formatted as an xml document and submitted to Google itself. If you have no idea on how to create an xml file there are tools available which will do the task for you.

It is important to think of the two types of sitemap as a mutually beneficial tool though submitting the xml file to Google will greatly enhance the prospect of your website being ranked highly in the search engines.